


An Exercise in Nurture

by Artemis1000



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Robot Sex, Robot/Human Relationships, Sickfic, Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2017, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-01-20 06:08:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12426597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/pseuds/Artemis1000
Summary: K-2 claims that charm and nurture are not in his skill set. An injured Cassian begs to differ, he is very charmed by his droid nurse.





	An Exercise in Nurture

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotebookishType](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotebookishType/gifts).



> This story takes inspiration from _Adventures in Wookiee-sitting_ and is set a while after it chronologically, but reading the mini comic is in no way required to understand the fic.
> 
> Merry exchanging!

Cassian opened his eyes to the sight of K-2SO looming over him, his optics very bright in the pale morning light filtering into the bedroom. He groaned a protest when he was poked in his uninjured shoulder – again.

“Kay! That’s the third poke. I’m _awake_.”

“It’s the seventh.”

Cassian shot him a glare, or what passed for one when he was mostly occupied with stifling a yawn. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his good hand. “The drugs you’ve been feeding me make me sluggish.”

K-2 straightened in indignation. “Well, at least that makes it easier to keep you in bed.”

He had the vague notion that he could have done a lot with that opening if his thoughts weren’t moving at a snail’s pace. What a wasted opportunity. All he could manage was an annoyed grunt.

This was the third day of the most lavish bedrest in Cassian’s life – and quite possibly the most nerve-wreckingly boring, too.

They had been lucky that K-2SO had been able to get them out after the mission went haywire and even luckier that they were able to lay low in a very _discreet_ holiday resort. It was very different from their usual hideouts in abandoned warehouses or grimy rooms above cantinas, but if he couldn’t risk taking Cassian to a hospital, K-2 had been determined to at least hide him someplace clean and comfortable.

“You need to take your medicine.”

Cassian accepted the handful of pills and glass of water, he took his first dosage of the day without complaint. His painful wounds ensured his compliance. “If I could use bacta…”

“You can’t,” K-2 said briskly. “You were poisoned with Ardectyl before I rescued you, it is strongly recommended to avoid bacta for a minimum of three full days.”

“Not poisoned, just knocked out.”

K-2 gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look.

“Stay in bed,” he ordered.

“My leg is broken and you took my crutches. I don’t think I have a choice.”

There was something distinctly vindictive about K-2’s, “good.”

Cassian rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. K-2 was still sulking about his escape attempts on day one.

He left for the kitchen and Cassian sank back into the ridiculously soft pillows. He was asleep before he knew it.

 

The next time he awoke the sun stood high in the sky. His head felt distinctly clearer.

K-2 gave him more pills and helped him freshen up in the bathroom, which left him feeling a little bit more like himself.

By the time he had had his very late breakfast and was back in bed, Cassian was in higher spirits than he’d been in days. 

He flashed K-2 a rueful grin. “You know, Kay, I’ve been thinking… This might be the closest we’ve come to a proper vacation.”

“You have a dislocated shoulder, a broken leg and a blaster burn on your stomach. If this is your idea of a vacation I want no part in it.”

“But…” Cassian reached for Kay with his good hand. He caught Kay’s optics with coyly half-lidded eyes, his fingertips trailed ever so gently over his chest plate. “It’s just you, me, and a droid-suited bed.”

K-2 looked thoroughly disapproving and also a little bit intrigued. “Don’t think you can seduce me out of bed rest.”

Cassian dropped his hand, but only to Kay’s hip. He rubbed his thumb over the gentle slope of his hip strut. “Lay with me? No ulterior motives.”

K-2 vented loudly in demonstrative exasperation. “You only needed to ask. You are being very ridiculous today, Cassian.”

Even though it was said to hold a droid’s weight, the bed wobbled a lot when K-2 laid down. It jarred every injury in Cassian’s body, even the ones he had nearly forgotten, and he had to grit his teeth to avoid making any noises of pain.

It was worth it when he gingerly edged closer to K-2 till he was curled up against his side. The droid had placed a hand on his formerly dislocated shoulder and he slung his still aching arm over his slim waist.

Cassian let himself bask in the gentle metal fingers caressing his back and combing through his hair, in the hum of K-2’s systems. He was at peace, his fans only whirring softly. In his more whimsical moments, he liked to think of it as a content mechanical purr.

“I _am_ upset we can’t use the bed,” he admitted quietly. He could feel his cheeks burn. It was such a silly complaint when he was lucky to have gotten away with his life. If he were in any state to make use of the bed they wouldn’t even have come here.

“There will be other beds.”

He curled his fingers around one of the little pins on his chin and tugged K-2’s head closer. To comply he bent his neck in a way no human could possibly manage to. Cassian rewarded him with a kiss to his vocoder. His lips lingered against the grille.

“You know. I can start using bacta tonight…” He left unsaid that it might be up to another week of laying low before their contact could smuggle them off-planet. He ought to be recovered far sooner.

“I must be very charming,” K-2 declared when he caught on. His fingers slipped under Cassian’s shirt. He knew where all his bruises were and was painstakingly careful to avoid them.

Cassian pressed his nose against Kay’s faceplates. It did nothing to stifle his chuckle. “Maybe I’m just trying to distract you from cooking for me.”

The droid yanked his head back. “Excuse me! I’m an excellent cook!”

“Do you want an honest answer or one that increases my chances of getting to use the bed?” Cassian asked with mock innocence.

“My meals are perfectly matched to your nutritional needs!” K-2 insisted, still sounding utterly scandalized.

Cassian hummed. “I’m sure they are.” Not always tasty, but he never doubted their nutritional value, and he liked it when K-2 cooked for him. He just liked teasing him, too.

They fell into silence again, no sounds but the gentle hum of K-2’s systems and Cassian’s even breathing.

Cassian didn’t fall back asleep as such but the hours trickled by with him barely aware of them.

 

At some point he must have fallen asleep for real, for the next time he awoke K-2 was working on a terminal and cooking smells were coming from the kitchen.

Despite all of Cassian’s naysaying, it smelled delicious.

K-2 prioritized nutritional value over taste in cooking, but he was a good cook as long as he followed the recipe. The problem was that he rarely followed a recipe for longer than it took the water to boil if Cassian wasn’t joining him in the kitchen.

Dinner turned out to be Corellian buckwheat noodle soup, or that’s what it had been before K-2 decided to improve it with all kinds of healthy but mismatched ingredients.

The consistency made Cassian wonder if it was going to walk away from his bowl, but otherwise…

“Doesn’t taste half bad,” he admitted.

“Of course it doesn’t.” He let a heartbeat pass before adding with great relish, “You’re just being a baby.”

Cassian chuckled at having his own quip turned on him. “Still sore about that? It’s been months.”

“Still frustrated with your illogical human behavior.”

He shoveled some more of the glop into his mouth. _Aggressive mastication_ really made all the difference, just like K-2 said.

“I’m injured. You’re supposed to be nice to me.”

K-2 made an incredulous static noise. “Since when?”

Cassian did not, as such, remind K-2 that he loved him. He didn’t point out that K-2 was always nice to him in his own very peculiar way. He didn’t even mention that playing nurse counted as being nice.

He just gave him a small smile before he ducked his head and went back to his dinner. His left hand found K-2’s.

K-2’s fingers interlaced with his.

As far as _vacations_ went, Cassian had no complaints.

 

For the next week, Cassian was the closest to a model patient he had ever been. The med droids on base would have been shocked, they might even have accused him of being an imposter.

He didn’t complain once during his bacta treatments, even endured K-2’s acerbic fussing with good grace. There was only one single escape attempt and K-2 threatened he would sit on him if he did that again – Cassian chose not to test his resolve.

If he were perfectly truthful, only half of his good behavior was out of consideration to K-2SO.

In his own quiet, secret way, he enjoyed being fussed over. It was a guilty pleasure, for sure, and he remained frustrated at his body’s weakness, but… It was nice to have the reassurance that he was protected and cared for while he didn’t have the strength to protect himself.

His current state also gave him plenty of opportunities to bask in physical affection he normally wouldn’t permit himself.

He spent hours cuddled up to K-2, first on the large bed and later on the couch. He basked in the gentle caresses lavished on him and in the way K-2’s optics never strayed far from him.

So he let himself heal, body and mind.

But there came a time when he felt he had healed enough and rest, just rest, started to grate on him.

“I’m _fine_ , Kay,” he growled as he stretched in the bedroom wearing only a low-hanging pair of trousers. He even did a few experimental squats and kicks. He may have felt sore and sluggish after a week of bedrest, but the bacta had done its job and much to K-2’s frustration he had never been good at being gentle with his own body.

Today turned out to be no exception.

“You are not,” K-2 argued. “You ought to rest until we leave.”

Cassian placed himself right in front of the droid and poked him in the middle of the chest. “I. Am. Fine.”

K-2 looked distinctly unimpressed in a way only droids could. “Wrong. You are going back to bed.”

Cassian felt a thrill run down his spine. Well. That may not have been the plan but he could work with that. Very well even. Exercise was exercise, right?

He edged a little closer to K-2, his eyes full of promise. “Make me.” There was a teasing undertone to his voice.

The droid paused, the black lenses in his eyes clicked as they shifted this way and that. Cassian could all but see him processing at full power. “I’m equipped to enforce compliance,” he ventured, though he sounded a little bit hesitant still.

Cassian would have been lying if he didn’t say he had been hoping for exactly that response, or if he denied that it sent another shiver down his spine. He bit down on his bottom lip as he contemplated his next move. They were so close already, but he got closer yet, pressing himself flush against the droid’s frame.

Cassian had to tilt his head back to hold his bright gaze. He placed his hand on K-2’s hip, gently caressed the pad of his thumb over the intricate plating of his belly section.

“I think you might have to enforce it,” he murmured, voice pitched low and rumbling. He rose to his tiptoes, not that it helped with the great height difference between them. It was not about that, it was about reassuring K-2 that he truly had his tacit permission.

He gave another low, content rumble when K-2 swooped him up in his arms and deposited him firmly on the large bed.

Cassian wrapped his arms and legs around K-2 before he had a chance to pull away. “Stay.”

The intensity in K-2’s optics burned into him as he dipped his head, optics to eyes with Cassian as he solemnly declared, “I wasn’t planning to go anywhere.”

Yet he peeled Cassian’s limbs off, forcing his wrists onto the mattress above his head and quieting any possible protests with a gently chiding, “compliance, Cassian.”

Cassian dug his heels into the mattress and lifted his hips up, stretching more than he did any attempt to free himself. He rolled his head to the side, aimed something very close to a pout at K-2. “I’ve been compliant for a week.”

“And you will remain so.”

K-2’s optics mapped every ripple of his muscles and Cassian felt himself flush under his attentive gaze. He wasn’t built for raw strength but to slip through the cracks, yet he had never thought of himself as fragile until he first made love with K-2. Now he strained against the metal hands wrapped around his wrists just to thrill at the lack of give.

“That’s not fair. You won’t touch me, you won’t let me touch you.” He licked his lips. “Do you even have a plan how to proceed from here?”

The droid’s optics dimmed slightly as he calculated. “You are right. It seems we are at an impasse.”

Cassian sweetened his smile. “You could release me.” He bit down on his bottom lip, slow and with his eyes hooded, knowing very well that K-2’s processors would recognize it as the face Cassian made when he was trying to hide how close he was to coming. True to form, K-2’s fans picked up and Cassian felt heat curl low in his belly.

“Pattern recognition algorithms are a lovely thing, aren’t they?” he murmured. He had to fight down a smirk, even as he struggled with the urge to squirm against the tightness of his pants.

K-2 shifted Cassian’s wrists so he was holding both with one large metal hand. “You are being very obnoxious today.”

“Kay!” he snapped, tugging harder now, though it remained a faux struggle. If he were resisting for real, he would be going for the shut-off button. The last thing he wanted right now was for K-2 to power down, though the buttons… He licked his lips as he thought of K-2 pinned under him, his tongue tracing the edge of his ports and buttons on his back while the droid babbled his outrage.

“No. You are on bedrest,” K-2 declared gleefully. “You will rest, and let me take care of you.”

Some real annoyance mingled in with Cassian’s pretense. “Tormenting me is not letting me rest!”

K-2’s lenses shifted. “It is now.”

He didn’t get another opportunity to protest before cold metal fingers shushed him, one digit placed over his lips. Cassian retaliated by sucking it into his mouth.

K-2’s systems whirred louder and Cassian felt his cock twitch in response.

He was well aware that most humans didn’t get hard when they tasted metal and the faint aftertaste of droid oil – oil which Cassian had lovingly applied, rubbing it into his joints with meticulous care when he was still too injured to tease K-2 in any other way. Then again, most humans had never been sucking on droid fingers while the other hand stroked them with robotic thoroughness to their orgasm. They had never ridden them, never writhed and whined and begged for more while bent over a terminal.

At some point K-2’s hold on his wrists had loosened, for when Cassian tried to move now, there was no resistance. He surged up, his arms wrapping around K-2’s thin neck as he pulled himself face to faceplates with his lover. His legs finally wrapped around his hips as he had yearned to do all along.

“I want you to fuck me.” That was blunter than he normally was, he felt K-2 start, and nuzzled his faceplates to keep him quiet. His voice was breathless and raspy, betraying exactly how much K-2 had gotten to him already. He lifted himself up onto his knees and ground against him. His lips played over K-2’s vocoder. “I have been waiting all week. You’ve been right here and we could do nothing but wait.” His grip on his neck tightened. ”I’m _done_ waiting.”

K-2’s fingers danced up and down his back along his spine, but he was making absolutely no move to rid Cassian of his pants.

If he kept this up, Cassian was going to swap his transmission oil for adhesive.

“Kay!” he barked.

K-2 stilled completely. “You are very bossy for someone who promised compliance.”

Cassian jerked his hips demandingly. “I’m _fine,_ Kay. I’m fully recovered.” He exhaled in a long, slow whoosh. His hands gentled on K-2’s frame, he curled his fingers around the base of his outer antenna and trailed them gently up and down its length. They were easily the most breakable part of K-2’s frame, but he never protested Cassian caressing them. “I want you. And I promise I won’t break if you touch me.”

K-2 ducked his head, forehead affectionately pressed against Cassian’s in the closest he could come to kissing him.

He still didn’t slip off his pants, but K-2 brought a hand down between them and Cassian shamelessly ground against it, seeking at least a little bit of relief though all he did was drive himself to full, frustrated hardness.

“Let me,” he murmured, slipping back onto his feet.

“Hey,” K-2 protested, yet he did nothing to stop him.

Cassian’s hands went right to his pants, no more games. He shot K-2 an arch look. “Your loss. You waited too long.”

They could have easily fallen back into languid banter before they finally came together and drove another tenderly to orgasm, but that would take a lot more patience than Cassian had left after a week of having everything he desired paraded just outside his reach.

He sank back onto the mattress, his naked body glistening with a thin layer of sweat, his hard cock bopping with every movement. It glistened with the first drops of precum and not for the first time, Cassian felt a faint pang of regret that K-2 would never taste him. There were things they would never have, ways in which their very different bodies could never find middle ground, and yet…

His lover’s optics burned into him and soothed away any vestiges of insecurity.

“Kay,” he murmured, his legs falling open in pleading and offer alike.

K-2 needed no further prompting. Whatever hesitancy had held him back was if not overcome at least held at bay as he laid down next to him – not on top of him, still not pinning him down as he normally would, so yes, he was still overly cautious, but he was finally _here_.

Cassian’s eyes fluttered shut at the first butterfly-light touch to his cock, his hips jerking, toes curling around the sheets as K-2’s fingers closed around his length. K-2’s hands were cold, while his chest plates could be scorching when he was overclocking. Cassian loved the play of hot and cold, the softness of his own body against the hard planes and sharp edges of K-2’s frame, the wet sheen his cum left on K-2’s matte plates, but now the droid just tutted in disapproval when Cassian tried to curl into him and seek out _more_.

“I’m still taking care of you,” K-2 declared, heavy static underlying his mechanical voice, “and you promised compliance.”

He had not, he had technically never promised anything, Cassian thought to protest, but K-2 was stroking him faster now and words… Words were hard.

He whimpered, “please,” the only word he could still manage, and opened his eyes. He wanted to see K-2, wanted him to never doubt that Cassian only thought of him when they made love. Cassian clung to K-2’s hip strut, his blunt short nails futilely trying to dig into metal as he writhed, still chasing this elusive _more_. 

After all their teasing, it was over far too fast.

He laid there, eyes unfocused, breath coming in sharp, heavy gasps, more out of breath than he should have been when K-2 had barely begun to play him. He was more exhausted, too, his limbs too heavy, hands too shaky to trust himself with the tangle of sensitive but so very delicate wiring hidden beneath K-2’s chest panel. So he just rolled into K-2, legs entangling with his as he tugged his hand up.

“Made a mess of you,” he murmured, tongue darting out to lap at the sticky wetness. K-2 complained loudly and insistently, and preferably in front of other people, whenever Cassian’s cum dried in his joints and irritated the delicate sensors, but mostly it was because he liked the flavor of their tastes combined. On normal days, when he didn’t feel like he was weighed down by a lead blanket, it was only the beginning.  

Now he simply cradled K-2’s hand against his heart and tucked his head under the droid’s chin, experience permitting him to find comfort huddled against a frame built to be anything but. He could feel exhaustion tug at him, body and mind. His health was restored, but maybe he needed a little longer to be at his best again.

“If I had known this is all it takes to make you rest,” K-2 quipped.

Cassian chuckled and lifted his head a little, bumping against the underside of K-2’s chin. “Shush. Let me sleep.”

“Don’t shush me,” he heard K-2 complain, but it was soft and foggy, and Cassian ignored in favor of letting sleep take him.


End file.
